Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko

Anton spent his childhood in Pioneer homes. His father was arrested in 1937 and executed in February 1938. In 1935, Anton joined the historical faculty of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. In 1938, he was expelled from Komsomol and the institute wherein, however, he was reinstated in the same year. According to his sister Galina, Anton later renounced his father. From 1938 onward, he worked as a guide at art museums and exhibitions. In 1939, he graduated from an institute. He was first arrested in 1940 on charges of complicity in an economic crime and sentenced to one and a half years of imprisonment. On 22 June 1941, he was again convicted on the same charges and sentenced to an additional two years. His third arrest occurred in 1943, when he was accused of counter-revolutionary agitation and sentenced by the Special Council of the NKVD to eight years in labor camps. From 1953 to 1960, he worked as a cultural organizer at sanatoriums and holiday homes in Yevpatoria, Alupka, and Gagra. He published several books, including In the Name of the Revolution (1965) and V. Antonov-Ovseenko (1975), under the pseudonym Anton Rakitin. In 1983, his historical study on Stalin, Portrait of a Tyrant, was published in the United States. In connection with this, in November 1984 he was arrested again, despite being almost blind, charged with anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda, and expelled from Moscow. He returned to Moscow in 1986. Antonov-Ovseenko founded and operated the Gulag History Museum, for which the Moscow administration provided a building in August 2001. He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

• Name — Anton Vladimirovich Antonov-Ovseenko • Native Name — Антон Владимирович Антонов-Овсеенко • Born — 23 February 1920 • Birthplace — Moscow, Soviet Russia • Died — 9 July 2013 • Place of death — Moscow, Russia • Occupation — Writer and historian • Education — Moscow State Pedagogical Institute • Relatives — Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko (father) • Illustration — Anton Vladimirovich Antonov-Ovseenko (in centre) as a child with his siblings and parents during their stay in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

A consistent anti-Stalinist, Anton regarded Stalin primarily as a “criminal”. He repeatedly advocated for the introduction of a provision in the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation criminalizing the propaganda of Stalinism. He also argued that in the Great Patriotic War the people prevailed in the tragic conflict “not thanks to Stalin, but in spite of him”.

The authorities additionally record the headings Anton Vladimirovich Antonov-Ovseyenko and Anton Vladimirovich Antonov-Ovseenko. His recorded language was Russian. He was the child of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko. One child is recorded: Anton Antonov-Ovseyenko.